


The Garden of the Golden Apples

by melabsinthium



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mythology, Injured Kageyama Tobio, M/M, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:42:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26526919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melabsinthium/pseuds/melabsinthium
Summary: “Who are you exactly?” Kageyama asks, breaking the silence.“A servant of the goddess”Kageyama ponders his answer for a moment. “I thought only women were allowed in the garden”Hinata’s features harden in an obscure expression. “She is the goddess of fertility,” Hinata says with a solemn voice. “Fertility cannot exist without both principles”-or: Kageyama wakes in a mythological place
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio
Kudos: 26





	The Garden of the Golden Apples

Muffled voices behind the door reach Kageyama.

“...a mortal,” says a woman.

“I couldn’t let him die,” a boy answers.

“Mortals die all the time. It doesn’t concern us”

“He…”

The voices trail off. Maybe they walked away, or maybe Kageyama falls back asleep, he’s not sure. 

When he opens his eyes again he doesn’t know how long has been. His body hurts everywhere and he doesn’t recognise the room he’s in. It’s airy and bright, light white curtains dim the light coming from the only window; a table with two chairs is the only other furniture in the bare room. 

There is no one else besides him. 

He tries to get up on the bed. The blinding pain stops him. He brings a hand to his abdomen and touches the soft fabric of a bandage going round his naked torso. It smells like herbs, honey and something spicy that Kageyama can’t determine. 

The door at his right opens and a boy with unruly red hair peeks inside. He smiles seeing Kageyema awake. 

“It was about time,” he says. His voice is bouncy and piercing on Kageyema’s ear. “You’ve been out for a while”

“What happened to me?”

Kageyama’s throat hurts and his voice comes out hoarse. The boy reaches the table and pours a cup of water for him and Kageyama drinks it in small sips. It itches his tongue.

“Ginger,” the boy explains. “Helps with inflammations”

Kageyama finishes his drink and waits for his throat to hurt a little less. “Who are you?”

“Hinata,” says Hinata as it was obvious. “You saved me from a dragon and ended up messed up. A stupid move, if I have to say”

Kageyama glares at him — he could be a bit more thankful, couldn’t he? — but Hinata looks unfazed. He sits on a chair, takes a red apple from the bowl on the table and throws it in the air a couple of times before biting it with a loud crunch. 

Kageyama waits for Hinata to tell him something, but nothing happens.

“Where am I?” he grumbles. 

“In the garden of the golden apples,” Hinata answers with his mouth full. 

Kageyama jumps on the bed. The pain reaches him a moment later, leaving him gasping. 

Hinata raises an eyebrow. “You should not move”

“Yeah. I noticed,” Kageyama says dryly. Pondering every movement, he lays down again. “Is this really— ?”

“Mh-mh. I did not know where else to bring you”

“This is a real place, right? I’m not… dead?” 

Hinata laughs, covering his mouth with the back of his hand. “Yes, this is a real place. And no, you are not dead. A bit beaten up, but not dead”

“Good.”

Hinata looks at him, with a shadow of a smile still on his lips.

Kageyama looks at the ceiling, memories are getting back at him. “I thought I was going to die”

“You got close,” Hinata confirms. “Fortuitously, we found out the golden apples have effect on mortals too”

Kageyama scowls at being called a mortal, then brings his eyes back on Hinata. “Did you use me as a guinea pig?”

“More or less?” Hinata shrugs his shoulders. “It was worth a try. And it worked! I only gave you a little piece, I don’t know how an entire apple would affect you”

He seems to consider the thought. Kageyama is bewildered, he wants to ask more questions, but the bed is cozy, the bedsheets smell like sun and his eyelids are getting heavy. 

Hinata gets up from his chair. “You should rest”

Kageyama nods, already half asleep. “Thanks”, he mumbles. “For saving me”

Hinata, with a hand on the handle, smiles at him and leaves the room without a word. 

*

“What the hell were you doing in a dragon’s den?” Kageyama asks the second time Hinata visits him. 

Kageyama’s moments of consciousness are still few and sparse, day and night are a blur and make it impossible for him to keep track of the time. Sometimes, when he wakes up, he finds food besides his bed.

Hinata sits astride on the chair before answering. “The dragon stole an apple and I was sent to retrieve it”

A faint breeze moves the white curtains, the twittering of birds comes from the garden outside the window.

“Who are you exactly?” Kageyama asks, breaking the silence.

“A servant of the goddess”

Kageyama ponders his answer for a moment. “I thought only women were allowed in the garden”

Hinata’s features harden in an obscure expression. “She is the goddess of fertility,” Hinata says with a solemn voice. “Fertility cannot exist without both principles”

The air around them freezes. Kageyama feels like he’s watching something he’s not supposed to see, but he can’t tear his gaze away from him.

From the garden, the cry of a peacock reaches them. Hinata’s gaze clears and rests on Kageyama.

“I asked questions about you”, he says, voice bright again. “You are quite famous”

Kageyama shakes his head, a few locks of his black hair cover his face. “I’m a warrior”

“You’re a hero!”

The way Hinata says it, fidgeting on the chair, warms Kageyama’s cheeks. For the first time, Kageyama's thoughts go on what he’s left behind. He’s in no hurry to come back to his life, he realizes. He can’t remember the last time he had a chance to rest, without having to move from task to task, from mission to mission, from war to war. 

“Tell me something!” Hinata demands. 

“Like what?”

“Like something!”

Kageyama sighs, but he leans better against the pillow and starts talking. Hinata’s eyes glimmer, hungry, and almost make him believe his occurrences are worth telling. 

*

Hinata is already in his room when Kageyama wakes up, sitting on his usual chair, head turned to the window. His eyes are unfocused, like he’s not seeing what’s in front of him. 

Kageyama takes a moment to study him. When he’s not smiling, his features have something distant, as if he’s too old for his body. For the first time, Kageyama wonders how old he actually is, how long he’s had that appearance. 

Hinata turns toward him and, when he sees Kageyama awake, his face softens and his smile appears and Kageyama forgets everything.

Kageyama gets up on the bed and pulls his long black hair in a messy bun. The pain is fading, but it’s far from being gone. He received enough wounds to recognise the ones that are going to leave a scar and sting on rainy days. 

Hinata hands him his usual cup of gingered water and sits again. 

In the last few days he has spent every morning in Kageyama’s room, asking him over and over to tell him something. Kageyama is sure he never talked so much in his life. 

“Don’t you have something to do?” he asks, more curious than annoyed.

Hinata shrugs his shoulder. “Not really. There is never much to do around here”

Kageyama relaxes against the pillow. “Must be nice”

Hinata sounds dejected. “Right”

From the garden, voices and laughs enter. Kageyama is dying to know what’s behind the white curtains. 

“Will I ever see it?”

“The garden?”

“Mh”

“No”

Kageyama nods. He expected it, but he can’t help but feel disappointed. 

Hinata’s face loses every track of seriousness, he smiles slily. “Not officially, at least”

Kageyama eyes gleam.

*

“Kageyama?”

It’s the first time Hinata calls him by his name. He wears a serious face, mouth set in a straight line. 

That morning he moved the chair closer to the bed and placed his feet on the edge of it. He’s meticulously cutting a peach, offering Kageyama a few slices.

“Mh”

Hinata takes a moment to ponder his words, staring at the wrinkles of the bedsheets. 

“The world outside— How is it?”

Kageyama is silent for a moment. “You’ve never been out of here?”

Hinata shakes his head. “It was my first time. Straight into the dragon’s den and back here.” He huffs a dry laugh. “I failed and brought back a mortal. I don’t think she’ll ever assign me another mission”

Kageyama has seen too much war and hate and cruelty to have the answers Hinata’s looking for; whatever is outside that window, Kageyama’s sure is better than that. 

But Hinata deserves to know. 

Kageyama takes a deep breath and starts talking. 

He tells about woods so dense the sun can’t reach the ground, about mountains’ lakes reflecting the clouds in the sky, about the blue sweep of the ocean. He describes the snow covering the world in its winter quiet, of the bright green it uncovers when it melts.

And somewhere, between the words, Kageyama can believe the world is not such a bad place.

Hinata looks at the window with a deep frown on his forehead, as if trying to see the things Kageyama’s describing. His eyes are filled with nostalgia for something he’s never seen. 

*

Kageyama already suspected it, but now he knows for sure: the curtain is enchanted to prevent him from seeing what’s outside. Every time he tries to move it, it comes back to its place, blocking the view. 

He grumbles and sits back on the edge of the bed.

The day before Hinata found him fighting with the curtain and spent the morning laughing at him. He has no intention of repeating the experience. 

It’s later than usual, but Hinata still hasn’t shown up. Kageyama stares at the chair where Hinata usually sits. That morning, he found on it his armour and the wolf’s pelt he usually wears on his shoulder.

He knows what it means.

Hinata enters the room when night is already falling. He scowls when he sees his seat occupied and sits on the one besides it. 

“You are feeling better,” he says with a grave voice.

“Like new”

“Tonight I have to escort you to the gate”

Kageyama stomach knots. He doesn’t want to go. He’s missing his freedom and his body is stiff, but a part of him wants to stay in that bare room, with Hinata sitting on his chair and a sore throat from talking too much.

“Come with me,” he says on an impulse. 

Hinata smiles, but it’s faint. “It would be nice”

The silence is heavy upon them. Kageyama stares at him, but Hinata is avoiding his gaze. 

“You should get ready”, he says.

Kageyama nods and wears his armour. He can feel Hinata’s eyes on his hands, studying every moment. Kageyama’s experienced hands falter. 

He never noticed how much his wolf’s pelt weighed on his shoulders. 

Only when the room is covered in darkness, Hinata speaks again.

“It is time”

Kageyama follows him outside the room. Hinata signs him to be silent and guides him through the deserted corridors. Their steps resonate on the marble floors until they reach a large iron door. 

“In theory you can exit from without going through this, but,” Hinata says and opens the door.

The garden appears in front of them. Kageyama’s breath stops in his lungs. 

“I’m sorry you can only see it at night”

Trees and trees of ripe fruits glow in the moonlight, their scent spreads in the tiepid nocturnal air; flowers so bright-coloured that shine in the dim light cover the meadow. Not far, a creek babbles.

“It’s splendid,” Kageyama says in a whisper.

Hinata guides him through the trees and he follows. Kageyama wants to take everything in, memorise everything but eyes can’t keep up. 

They stop in front of a large tree, with luxuriant branches and a thick log. Through the foliage, golden apples gleam as jewels in the dim light.

A dragon wrapped in its tail rests under the tree. It raises its head and looks at Hinata. Muscles tense in Kageyama’s body, he brings a hand to his side, searching for his sword without finding it. 

The dragon lazily yawns then rests his head on his front paws and gets back to sleep. 

Hinata stretches on his toes and picks an apple. He offers it to Kageyama, “In case of future stupid moves,” he says with a smile.

Kageyama takes it reverently with both hands. It’s lukewarm from the heat of the night and damp with the night’s dew. 

He searches his head for the right words, but Hinata starts moving again and he can’t do anything but follow him. 

When Hinata stops again, the gate is in front of them. It’s too soon. 

“Here we part,” Hinata says.

“I don’t want to go”

“I do not want you to go”

Kageyama turns toward Hinata, with the tip of his fingers he brushes the back of Hinata’s hand. “Come with me.”

Hinata’s smile falters, his eyes soften. “I cannot”

“Why not? You can walk through that gate with me. You could see the woods and the snow, and… everything you want to”

Hinata blinks and raises his eyes to the sky. The night is clear, there are no clouds covering the stars. 

“Your life or my freedom” 

“What does it mean?”

“The goddess took me in,” Hinata says. “I was exposed on an altar when I was born and the goddess took me in. And when you belong with her, it’s forever”

“You— ” 

“She knew this place was getting too tight for me. She offered me a deal when I brought you here”

Kageyama opens his mouth to protest, but Hinata puts a finger on his lips.

“It is fine”, he smiles. “I made the right choice”

The silence of the garden around them is eerie, the trees look spectral in the moonlight. Kageyama's hands tremble, for the second time he reaches for his sword without finding it. 

“It will appear on your side when you are far from here,” Hinata says. “She is cautious”

Kageyama hears the squeaking of the gate opening behind his back. They’re running out of time. His head spins dizzily, he wants to say something but words escape him.

“I’m sorry,” he manages to say with a trembling voice.

Hinata smiles calm, “I am not”

Kageyama turns his head to the gate and to Hinata again.

“Go,” Hinata says. “And pick up some snow for me”

Kageyama feels a laugh bubbling in his chest. He wants to tell him snow it’s not a flower he can pick up, but the corner of his eyes sting and a knot blocks his throat. 

A peacock cries in the distance and they Kageyama know it’s the last warning. 

He straightens his shoulders and raises his chin, as if he’s going into battle, and turns his back to Hinata. He forces himself not to turn back until he hears the clatter of the gate closing behind him.

Hinata smiles at him through the bars, then turns around and starts running. Kageyama keeps staring at the point his back disappears in the dark. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


  
  
  
  
  


  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> Come find me on Twitter - @ melabsinthium


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